Maulana Nasrullah Badarpuri, a 35-year-old Islamic scholar and teacher from Bangladesh, was killed in a missile strike at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before he could reach Makkah to perform the holy Umrah. The tragic incident occurred on Saturday during a transit stop at Terminal-3 of the airport, where passengers from Bangladesh and various other nations were waiting. According to a press release issued on Sunday by the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, the missile attack resulted in twelve fatalities, including two Bangladeshi nationals. The other Bangladeshi victim has been identified as Md Shahed Ahmed from Bogura.
Family members recounted that Nasrullah departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Saturday morning (Bangladesh time) with the aspiration of completing Umrah. After landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, he was scheduled to take a connecting flight to Jeddah and subsequently proceed to Makkah. However, the fatal assault struck while he was navigating his layover in the foreign capital. His brother-in-law, Maulana Md Nasir Uddin, stated that Nasrullah had a two-hour transit in Riyadh and was preparing to board his connecting flight with a boarding pass in hand when the disaster struck, denying him even the opportunity to board the aircraft.
Nasrullah served as the assistant head teacher at Jamia Arabia Rabiul Ulum Madrasa in Dhaka's Kamrangirchar area, where he lived in a rented residence with his wife, Mahbuba Akhter, and their three young children: seven-year-old Jamil Hasan, five-year-old Nabila Akhter, and two-year-old Md Jawad. Hailing from Badarpur village in Dhalua Union of Cumilla's Nangalkot Upazila, he was the third among four sons and three daughters of Maulana Mohammad Ullah and Jahanara Begum. His sudden and violent demise has plunged his relatives into profound grief and cast deep uncertainty over the future of his wife and young children, who are currently staying at the family home in Cumilla.
Overwhelmed by grief, the victim's father, Maulana Mohammad Ullah, expressed utter devastation that a journey undertaken for religious devotion culminated in such a catastrophe. Struggling to come to terms with the loss, the elderly father made an earnest appeal to the government to expedite the repatriation process so that the family can catch a final glimpse of his son. As the bereaved parents mourn the tragic loss, the family now awaits the return of Nasrullah's mortal remains from Saudi Arabia to their ancestral village in Bangladesh.
